MC ELVANEY’S WASTE & RECYCLING INTERMEDIATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP.

Emyvale 1-12, Corduff 1-11.

A point from a real pressure kick free by Gareth McQuaid, 3 minutes into stoppage time, saw Emyvale snatch the narrowest of victories over 13 man Corduff, at the end of this very keenly contested and at times exciting contest that built to an exhilarating finish in Drumhowan on Saturday evening last. In the final analysis though, the quality of the contest was marred a little with some ugly scenes following the final whistle. That was only the 2^nd time in the game that Emyvale took the lead, the 1^st being after 2 minutes with a rather fortuitous goal, but for most of the 1^st half Corduff were the more purposeful team, shading the exchanges with some good passages of play and were the sharper team particularly in exploiting broken play. They took the lead for the 2^nd time with a goal after 11 minutes and went on to lead by 2 at the break, 1-9 to 1-7. The quality of play deteriorated a little bit in the second-half with turnovers the order of the day and scores hard to come by with Corduff also reduced numerically 10 minutes into the 2^nd half when Fergal Hanratty was sent off on a 2^nd yellow card. Corduff still held a 2 points lead going into the final 10 minutes of the match but were not to register again as Emyvale staged a strong finish, mounting a defensive rearguard action and breaking quickly to hit Corduff for 3 unanswered points, all from frees, to seal victory. Corduff finished the game with 13 players when substitute Sean McEnaney was sent off on a straight red card.

Teams and Scorers: Emyvale: Paudie Hayes, Gregory Devlin, Gareth McQuaid 1-2 (0-1f), Ciaran Connolly, David Bellew, Karl McQuaid, James McKenna, Colin Hughes, Gavin McKernan, Michael Flannery, Ryan McAnespie 0-1, Rory Sherry, David McAlister 0-4 (2f), James Bellew, Daniel McMahon 0-5 (3f). Subs: Anthony O’Brien for C Connolly (Black Card), James O’Neill for J McKenna, Kyle Hughes for M Flannery, Conor McQuillan for G McQuaid.

Corduff: Ben Woods, Charles Cooney, Ciaran Brennan, Fergal Hanratty 0-3 (2f), Christopher McEnaney, Declan Larkin, Michael Connolly, Mark McEnaney, Gerard Connolly, Padraic Keenan 0-2 (1f), Shane McNally (jnr), Martin Mills, John McEnaney 1-0, Brendan McNally 0-3, Keith McEnaney 0-2. Subs: Cillian Marron for C Cooney, Cathal Connolly for M McEnaney, Gavin McEnaney 0-1 for M Mills, Sean McEnaney for B McNally. Referee Sean Gilsenan (Donaghmoyne).